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Football donor/funding question

reformedsteven said:
I’m asking because coaches like Fuente, Harbaugh, and Pruitt have been awful hires. But with 2020 being a year of financial loss, would these universities make a coaching change. And yes, I know that Pruitt recently signed an extension. But if donors have the money, I’m assuming they have the power. If the donors say, “hey we can pay buyouts for current staff of fires and pay salaries for new staff, how much influence does that have? Will ADs make the change?
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It was a year of financial loss to universities and a lot of working people, but that was absolutely not the case for the wealthy. The market has been up significantly. I don’t know who Virginia Tech’s money men are but Michigan’s are Ross who is worth $7b, Tennessee is Jimmy Haslam who is worth $3b, and Texas is Red McCombs who is worth $1.5, and they are all very, very passionate about their schools’ football teams. Maybe not Tennessee, but the other two have plenty of other deep pockets. If any of those schools want to make a move, the coach is gone.
 
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So why is Halfass U in such a bind that they had to cut 20% of their athletic budget this year? Are the boosters that ****ed off or are they cheap? They paid of 32m for the coaching change but that would seem like chump change given the size of the university and history of their program. No billionaires? And ***** FSU. I hope they have to sell their stadium just to eat.
 
reformedsteven said:
I’m asking because coaches like Fuente, Harbaugh, and Pruitt have been awful hires. But with 2020 being a year of financial loss, would these universities make a coaching change. And yes, I know that Pruitt recently signed an extension. But if donors have the money, I’m assuming they have the power. If the donors say, “hey we can pay buyouts for current staff of fires and pay salaries for new staff, how much influence does that have? Will ADs make the change?
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Read South Carolina’s reasoning for firing Muschamp even after they furloughed so many employees. They claim investing in a new coach will bring in more fan support (more money) bc they’ll be better. Every school will use the same excuse.
 
reformedsteven said:
Thanks.
Let me see if I can top it. What is the benefit of a donor then? Just spend 10 million on a transaction that you don’t benefit from?
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Obviously, you are not a multi-millionaire.

Wealthy people pay to have their names put on things. They also get tax deductions.

What else do you think they get for the money? It's a donation, not a business expenditure.
 
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you also get access to the program. Best tickets, perhaps a trip on the plane to an away game, access to the locker room. When you call some one takes your call.
 
1mg of Epi said:
Other than the obvious access to program etc, it is a tax deduction
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The tax deduction thing is kind of a red herring excuse for people that don’t understand and don’t contribute.

If you want to end up with way more money in your pocket, you pay the taxes, and just don’t contribute. You come out way ahead in terms of your after tax net worth vs giving.

People that give to programs realize no net financial benefit vs not giving.

Most big donors give out of love for the program. Yes a lot may have big egos, be jerks, hard assess, and so forth, but basically they’re just big fans that want their programs to succeed.

Sadly, our base of these people is a tiny fraction of the big players in college football. We just don’t have very many - unlike schools like Alabama, Georgia, or even Florida, and I hate to say it, even FSU.
 
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Clwtrdan said:
So why is Halfass U in such a bind that they had to cut 20% of their athletic budget this year? Are the boosters that ****ed off or are they cheap? They paid of 32m for the coaching change but that would seem like chump change given the size of the university and history of their program. No billionaires? And ***** FSU. I hope they have to sell their stadium just to eat.
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You should read the ESPN article on FSU from a couple days ago. It focuses on their recent downfall, but also gives some long-term history on the program.

Some key points that are just briefly touched on (or glossed over altogether) in the article:

1. Because they were an all-girls school till the 1940's and really only gained success in football in the early 80's, they don't have a lot of old-school sports-focused donors who've built up generational wealth. Think of schools like UF, which was the "boys" school way back. They have wealthy alumni who've been sending their kids to UF for generations, and they've lived and breathed football since the early 1900's. FSU only started playing football in 1947.

Because they're a large state school, they have a larger pool of donors than, say, UM, but that pool is "shallow" and doesn't contain a lot of mega-donors.

2. Bowden was famous for doing more with less, rarely begging donors for more money or making a stink about facilities, etc. So their donor base isn't used to forking over a lot of cash--they were able to be successful while they still had an erector set of a stadium, and they got state funding to help renovate Doak in the 90s, so many of the old-school donors still don't really see the need to keep up with the arms race in the 21st century.

3. More recently, their athletic dept made some REALLY bad business decisions when they hired and fired Taggart and when they sunk a whole lot of money into a project called "College Town".
 
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wspcane said:
The first question was worse. There are some tax savings on the contribution and it may also involve estate planning, but by and large, because at a certain point of wealth, $1m, $5m, $10m is like a few thousand bucks to others. When you can buy whatever you want, ego and experiences take precedence and this is one of way to scratch that itch.

If Michigan wants to fire Harbaugh tomorrow, Stephen Ross can write the check tomorrow and wouldn’t know the money was gone from his account.
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Check? For Ross that kind of money is pocket change.
 
If I were a billionaire, yes; I would donate a few million to the program. Wouldn't care about on field access to games or any such perks.

I'd honestly rather be tailgating, drinking screwdrivers and cooking my patented tequila kissed ribs.

I would go back to college and obtain a business degree from the U as well.

Just because I have money wouldn't change who I am. Money doesn't change you, it just makes you more of what you really are.

....I probably wouldn't be hauling milk for 70 hours a week though, lol.
 
OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
The tax deduction thing is kind of a red herring excuse for people that don’t understand and don’t contribute.

If you want to end up with way more money in your pocket, you pay the taxes, and just don’t contribute. You come out way ahead in terms of your after tax net worth vs giving.

People that give to programs realize no net financial benefit vs not giving.

Most big donors give out of love for the program. Yes a lot may have big egos, be jerks, hard assess, and so forth, but basically they’re just big fans that want their programs to succeed.

Sadly, our base of these people is a tiny fraction of the big players in college football. We just don’t have very many - unlike schools like Alabama, Georgia, or even Florida, and I hate to say it, even FSU.
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The “tax benefit” isn’t that you’re walking away with any more money in your pocket... it’s just not costing as much as it appears. I assumed that the astute CIS gentlemen would know that.
 
SPAMM said:
I represent someone selling a bridge from Manhattan to one of the newly popular boroughs. You interested?
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10 minutes ago I thought... even in this idiotic time called 2020 there still wouldn't be anyone who would buy the Brooklyn Bridge from a poster named SPAMM but then OP happened.
 
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